November 25, 2015

Vermont must build future renewable power sources on a scale
that fits with the character of Vermont towns, Governor Peter Shumlin said last
week. Developers shouldn’t burden small towns with large energy projects, he
said. Instead, smaller-scale production sources will ensure Vermonters profit
most from the state’s renewable energy push, he said. Shumlin delivered his
comments the day after Green Mountain Power released a map showing certain
regions of the state produce renewable energy at a rate disproportionate to
what they consume.

“I continue to believe that building out small renewable
projects in Vermont, where you can use it on a local grid, is going to bring us
a bright, affordable renewable energy policy that’s going to serve Vermonters
well – serve our pocket books, serve jobs and serve the climate future that
we’re facing,” Shumlin said at a news conference..

“My own view is, let’s have projects that get it in on
rooftops, that get it in brownfields, build it out in smaller areas where
communities through local generation can take advantage of that power – that’s
the best outcome for Vermont,” he said.

Market forces alone are hoped to encourage future renewable
energy development on a scale proportionate to the towns they serve, state
officials say. But policy makers are also seeking to create siting regulations
with the same outcome in mind.

This may come as a relief to some, as local officials in
parts of the state have worried that they’re carrying more than their fair
share of the burden of renewable sites.

“By my last calculation, from renewable energy, we produce
currently over 13 times our electrical usage for the town,” New Haven select
board member Doug Tolles said last month. “And if the ones that are proposed
are actually constructed, New Haven would be producing approximately 23 times
what it’s using. We’re clearly doing our share, and more.

“Between the lack of trees, the flatness and the access to
power, especially, we are attractive to solar developers,” Tolles said. “Most
of these solar developers absolutely do not care about where they put their
solar, and they do not care in any way about how it affects the town or the
looks of the town.”

Addison County and surrounding areas produce more renewable
energy, in comparison to their energy demands, than other parts of the state,
according to an energy-distribution map Green Mountain Power released Monday.

The map is available to the public and will be updated
weekly, company representatives said.

It shows that, under current conditions, the grid, in
certain areas of Vermont have already reached capacity for renewable energy
production.

New developments are likely to occur closer to areas that
need them most, according to Asa Hopkins, the Public Service Department’s
planning and energy resources division director.

“It’s a relationship between supply and demand,” he said.

Developing solar sites in Addison County may have been
relatively cheap, compared with other parts of the state, as a result of its
topography, weather, land values or other factors, Hopkins said.

Had this development occurred where power demands are high –
surrounding Burlington, for example – the same grid infrastructure would have
had greater capacity.

Grid capacity, in other words, isn’t a fixed volume of
electricity, but rather a relationship between how much power is produced and
how much is consumed, he said.

Now that certain areas have reached the threshold set by how
much they produce and consume, the cost of further development in those areas
will increase, he said.

This is largely because developers must pay for new
infrastructure to distribute energy they produce, according to Kristin Carlson,
the spokeswoman for Green Mountain Power.

This is one purpose of the map, she said – “to communicate
to businesses that are building solar … where in the grid might be really
helpful to build solar and where might be more costly.”

The Public Service Department will further refine this
information using a recent grant from the US Department of Energy, Hopkins
said.

This and other technological developments are meant to
discourage renewable energy projects that generate too much power for nearby
residents, he said.

As the ability to plot capacity improves, Hopkins said, so,
too, will his agency’s ability to ensure future development on a scale
appropriate to location.

A state siting task force is also looking at ways to scale
energy projects in proportion to local requirements, he said.

Locally sized projects will save ratepayers money that would
have otherwise been needed to upgrade the state’s power grid, Shumlin said.
They’ll also hinder large out-of-state developers from profiting, to the
exclusion of smaller in-state firms, from the state’s push for more renewable
energy, he said.

Carlson said Green Mountain Power, which provides power to
73 percent of Vermont residents, isn’t planning to expand capacity in areas
where the grid is already approaching its limits.

“What we’re focused on is a grid of the future, that
supports locally grown power,” Carlson said.

“We don’t want to double down,” she said, on existing power distribution
schemes by merely upgrading what exists already.

“We definitely see a completely new energy future,” she
said, “where poles and wires are a backup,” and where homes and businesses
primarily generate their own power.